Antigua and Barbuda, 2005

This is the

first time that a representative from the island of

Barbuda has had the honour to address the General

Assembly. For my country, the nation of Antigua and

Barbuda - and, more important, for my fellow

Barbudans - this is indeed a historic and significant

milestone.

The Government and the people of Antigua and

Barbuda have full confidence in the multilateral

system, and in the United Nations as the primary

instrument of multilateralism. Further, we believe that

only through cooperation at the international level can

micro-States like Antigua and Barbuda begin to

address the global threats and challenges that

jeopardize our existence, our way of life and our ability

to make progress.

Antigua and Barbuda attaches great importance to

the work of the United Nations and to the outcome of

the collective decisions of the family of nations. We

look forward to safeguards for small developing States

in all stages of multilateral processes, and specifically

in the outcome document of the 2005 world summit

(resolution 60/1).

Taking stock of the achievement of the objectives

of the outcome of major United Nations conferences

and summits is a task we approach with trepidation.

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Antigua and Barbuda is attempting to achieve and

sustain a decent standard of living for our people and

for future generations. Our progress report is a mixed

one, tinged with both hope and frustration. We are

hopeful because we have achieved a lot with our

meagre resources. In the face of severe economic

hardship, we have managed to achieve a literacy rate of

over 90 per cent among young people aged 15 to 25

years. Access to primary and secondary education is

mandatory and is provided free of cost by the

Government to all students aged 5 to 16. All public

school students are provided with school uniforms and

the required textbooks free of cost. To accommodate

our expanding student population, only this week we

commissioned a new school on my island of Barbuda.

Poor people need access to the necessary

resources so that they can take charge of their own

development. That is why the Barbudan people are

extremely proud of what we consider to be a very

progressive land policy for the ownership of land on

our island. The Barbuda Lands Act, which is scheduled

to be introduced in Parliament shortly, stipulates that

all land on Barbuda be owned in common by the

Barbudan people.

In the area of health care, we in Antigua and

Barbuda have a national medical benefits programme

that provides low-cost access to health-care services

and prescription drugs. Our child mortality rate is

among the lowest in developing countries, and our

nutrition level for children aged 5 years and under is

among the highest.

The promotion of gender equality and the

empowerment of women has been a priority area for

Antigua and Barbuda. We signed and ratified the

Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of

Discrimination Against Women, and are currently

working on the ratification of the Convention's

Optional Protocol. With regard to the Millennium

Development Goal pertaining to the empowerment of

women, Antigua and Barbuda has made noteworthy

strides. Our first woman was elected to Parliament in

the last general elections. Our Speaker of Parliament

and our President of the Senate are women, and there

are two women in our Cabinet. Concerted efforts have

been made to promote women's political participation

at all levels.

In spite of such progress, however, we continue

to experience a high level of frustration with regard to

development. That is because the progress we have

made thus far is at risk of being wiped away. As a

middle-income small island developing State, we are

continually handed the sharp edge of the sword to hold

when it comes to a number of issues of international

development. It is as if we were being punished by the

international community for having achieved some

measure of progress with very meagre resources and

despite severe external challenges.

The Monterrey Consensus represents a pact

between developed and developing countries, the

objective of which is the scaling up of financing for

development. Yet there is nothing in the Monterrey

Consensus that so-called middle-income countries can

benefit from. We have fulfilled the responsibilities

accorded to Governments of developing countries as

stipulated in the Monterrey Consensus. We continue to

go beyond those responsibilities to consolidate the

principles of accountability, transparency and good

governance in laws we introduced in Parliament in the

seventh month of the first term of the incumbent

Government of Antigua and Barbuda.

All of that took place against a backdrop of a

declining trend in the flow of official development

assistance (ODA) to the Caribbean region. It is

necessary for international agreements on financing for

development, such as the Monterrey Consensus, to

include all developing countries, and not sideline those

that have achieved some measure of progress. Our

frustration with the Monterrey Consensus, and with

financing for development in general, would not be so

acute were it not been for the brutal challenges we face

in other areas that are potential engines for economic

growth and development.

We have been forced to ask ourselves if a pro-

development trade regime is something the

international community really wants. Our neighbours

in the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) have been

dragged through brutal trade battles, struggling to keep

alive their agricultural sector, namely, the banana and

sugar industries. The Caribbean Community has for

years been lamenting the importance of those two

sectors to the livelihood of our people. A pro-

development trade regime would not amputate the feet

of such small vulnerable players and leave them to

haemorrhage. And that is exactly what has transpired

with regard to our banana- and sugar-producing

CARICOM neighbours.

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As if that were not enough, we in Antigua and

Barbuda now find ourselves under attack in yet another

sector. Last week, during the 2005 world summit, the

Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda (see

A/60/PV.4) spoke of the need for us to seek the

intervention of the World Trade Organization in the

dispute with the United States over Internet gaming.

With trade in agriculture proving continually difficult

for developing States in general, and for small island

States in particular, the services sector is just about the

only option we currently have for diversification. For

Antigua and Barbuda, the tourism sector has been good

to us, but it is extremely volatile, and our high levels of

environmental and economic vulnerability necessitate

strategically identifying other options for economic

growth and development. One such option is Internet

gaming. But due to the unfair trade practices of highly

developed countries, notably the United States, we are

finding it increasingly difficult to realize development

benefits from Internet gaming.

In addition to that, the principle of special and

differential treatment for countries with special needs,

such as small island developing States, is under

perpetual assault by highly developed countries. After

careful consideration and evaluation, we are forced to

conclude that there is nothing tangible for small

developing States in the Monterrey Consensus. We are

losing the battle on the issue of trade, and so we

attempt to hitch our proverbial wagon to foreign direct

investment as a means of stimulating economic growth

and development. But once again, our efforts meet with

frustration. Why? Because of unsustainable debt.

Our experience has shown that highly indebted

countries find it extremely difficult to attract private

international finance. The international community

now realizes the importance of debt reduction and debt

forgiveness to development. We urge that the situation

of heavily indebted middle-income countries be given

serious attention by the international community. If

more is not done to address the debt problem of

middle-income countries, we risk reversing our

development gains. Instead of a reduction, the net

result may actually be increasing levels of poverty.

Antigua and Barbuda fully supports all efforts to

achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

With regard to environmental sustainability, small

islands like Antigua and Barbuda face the challenge of

very limited land space and fragile ecosystems, and are

highly vulnerable to natural disasters and the effects of

climate change. Compounding those challenges is our

heavy dependence on the natural environment to

support our tourism product, which accounts for almost

80 per cent of our gross national income. Two thirds of

the island of Barbuda is merely a few feet above sea

level. Threats to our natural environment are threats to

our very way of life and existence. We therefore

welcome paragraphs 51 to 53 in the 2005 world

summit outcome document on the issue of climate

change.

The devastation wrought by the increased

intensity of hurricanes has set us back years, even

decades, on the development scale. Antigua and

Barbuda stresses the need for policies to mitigate the

effects of hurricanes and other natural disasters on

small developing States, as well as the establishment of

an effective system of long-term support for countries

recovering from disasters.

International drug trafficking has major security

implications for our islands. Drug traffickers often use

our shores and surrounding waters as trans-shipment

points for their illegal cargo, resulting in an increase in

the criminal element within our fragile societies. Those

criminals operate within very sophisticated networks

that are beyond the reach and capacity of our

resources. It is a situation that puts the security of the

entire region at risk. This is one area that begs for

greater international attention.

Antigua and Barbuda is in agreement with many

of the recommendations to strengthen the United

Nations, as contained in the outcome document of the

2005 world summit. We support those reform

proposals, the objective of which is to make the United

Nations more democratic, increase its legitimacy and

enhance its work.

At a time when multilateralism is coming under

attack, we, as small developing States, remain ever

mindful of the need for the United Nations. We share

equally in the quest for peace and security and are

heartened by the growing recognition that there can be

no peace and security without development. We call for

further and unambiguous acknowledgement of the

security-development nexus and for the economic

development of all countries to be accorded equal

priority as international peace and security.